News
Lignol and Pacific Ethanol to integrate resources

Lignol signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between its wholly owned subsidiary, Lignol Innovations Inc. and Pacific Ethanol to evaluate the benefits of integrating Lignol's proprietary second generation biorefinery technology with Pacific Ethanol's existing corn ethanol facilities.

Pacific Ethanol seeks to reduce the carbon intensity of the ethanol it produces by integrating cellulose ethanol into existing operations. Pacific Ethanol says its production locations are ideally located for the deployment of Lignol's biorefineries due to the abundance of woody biomass on the West Coast and regulations to improve the greenhouse gas profile of ethanol produced and marketed in California.

By deploying Lignol's proprietary technology within these established operations, the companies believe there will be significant capital and operating cost advantages, from leveraging existing infrastructure, logistics, staffing and partnerships. Lignol expects the benefits of co-hosting could also significantly improve the timelines for the start-up of biorefinery operations and further assist Lignol in meeting its objective of being a low-cost producer of cellulosic ethanol.

Lignol says it continues to evaluate unique ways to deploy its technology in order to drive the cost of cellulosic ethanol lower and exploit its technology platform. The integration of cellulosic ethanol into existing corn ethanol plants is one such opportunity. Lignol is also evaluating the feasibility of exploiting the attributes of its technology within the pulp and paper sector. Lignol says its fractionation technology produces clean substrates that are ideal inputs for the cellulosic ethanol, pulp and paper and green chemical industries, and the company reports that it is having early stage discussions with potential partners in Canada to deploy a version of its technology to address these opportunities.

“Working with Pacific Ethanol on the West Coast is a natural fit for Lignol,” said Lignol's President and CEO Ross MacLachlan. “They have established themselves as a major force in the region, and we are excited to be working with them to enhance their economic and long term plans to integrate cellulose ethanol into existing production. Pacific Ethanol's assets are first class and each of their locations appears to offer tremendous synergies for our technology deployment.”

For more information, go to www.lignol.ca.

May 25, 2010  By Newswire